War of words: Pondy CM V Narayanasamy calls Kiran Bedi ‘Hitler’s sister’

CHENNAI: In fresh bout of political jousting in neighbouring Puducherry, former high-profile police officer and Lt. Governor Dr Kiran Bedi is at loggerheads again with the Congress Chief Minister, V Narayanasamy over the latter's remark on Tuesday that she "appears to be sister of German dictator Adolf Hitler".

While the war of words between the popularly elected Chief Minister and the Central government's nominee has become somewhat legendary by now - unseen in the history of the otherwise peaceful union territory in recent years - the latest spat is over Mr Narayanaamy's remarks of Dr Bedi’s dictatorial style of functioning, returning government files with posers, often leading to stalemate.

The Lt. Governor “is standing in the way of each and every decision of the Ministry,” Mr Narayansamy reportedly said, yet again in an outburst of angst against Dr Bedi for "impeding implementation of cabinet decisions by unnecessarily interfering in routine governance."

The Chief Minister’s apparent comparison of the stern, no-nonsense gubernatorial functionary to "Hitler's sister' only queered the pitch, even as he complained that his blood pressure shot up every time he saw a file being returned from the Raj Nivas without the Lt. Governor's approval. Mr. Narayansamy also came down on officials who were being more loyal than the King by "unnecessarily" forwarding all files to her, which was not needed.

The TNCC president K S Azhagiri in Chennai also concurred with Mr. Narayanasamy that the Lt. Governor was interfering in day-to-day administration in the UT, which was totally uncalled for in the Constitutional scheme of things.

Mr Narayansamy had earlier paid floral tributes to the statue of late Mrs Indira Gandhi on her birth anniversary on Tuesday.

The latest provocation, according to a Congress party source, for Mr. Narayanasamy's remark, was Dr Kiran Bedi allegedly not approving the proposal to put up a statue of the late DMK leader M Karunanidhi on government land in Puducherry. The Congress has also been protesting against Dr Bedi nominating three members of the BJP to the Assembly without consulting the territorial government.

Earlier in the day there was flutter over the Congress party in the UT allegedly putting up posters in which Dr Kiran Bedi is shown as German dictator Adolf Hitler. The reports added that Ms. Bedi even tweeted the picture of the poster, to put Narayanasamy on the defensive.

The posters referred to could, however, have been a thing from the past when Kiran Bedi was dubbed “Hitler” last year and not the German dictator’s sister, as she is being castigated, somewhat more politely now.

When contacted from Chennai, Mr. Narayansamy, however, told DC, that he had not seen any such poster and hence he could not comment about it.